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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
I've been blogging for one year now!
A year, maybe two, and it's a good bet any given personal soapbox-type blog'll stop. -Matt Fraction
This will prove to be fairly self-indulgent. Yes, it’s the one year anniversary here at Brill Building. This post started everything off and soon the blogosphere got a little bit more crowded and quality dipped just that much more. If you don’t mind, let me take a look at the year that was in Brill Building history as well as some of my thoughts on being part of this community.
As you can imagine my inspiration to blog came from seeing the success that my friends Mike and Dorian had with their blogs. Right around the time I got my blog I believe Tom and Corey started their respective blogs as well. Mike dubbed as the Associated Comics and Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA and Outlying Environs and, as far I know, it’s the largest bunch of bloggers of this sort that all know each in real life and live in the same area. I think the main reason for this is because the store Mike and Dorian work at is so much better than most comic book stores (certainly better than any comic book store in Ventura County, as those fine and upstanding folks at the VC Reporter have made clear) that it attracts a smarter and more thoughtful reader, one that can actually communicate their feelings about comics and pop culture in a way that is worth reading. I thank all of them for not only inspiring me but for sharing their wonderful selves with the whole world.
The other inspiration for starting this damn thing was the fact that I had chosen to be a writer at about age 18 so when I was 20 it made sense that I would have my own forum to write whatever the Hell I want, in order to create some sort of discipline in myself as a writer (I was already working as an editor at my college newspaper by this time). I think that forcing me to write for the sake of writing has done that but I also feel interacting with the readers and other blogosphere participants has improved me a writer (and a person). The fact that I’m reading and joining in these large discussions with amazing talents like Tim O’Neil, Sean T. Collins, Chris Butcher, Dave Fiore, Johanna Draper Carlson and so many more, besides making me feel a bit unworthy to blog alongside them, has kept me on my toes and forced me to evolve quicker as a writer than if I never started this site. It is to my readers and fellow bloggers that I thank you very much.
Not let’s look at how things have been for this blog over the year. While there were big chunky review like these two I suppose I first made my mark when I filed a seven-part report of just three days from the Sand Diego Comic-Con (you can work your way back from here). It was a thrill to see myself linked to by Heidi MacDonald and Mark Evanier because I had enjoyed their writing and blogging previously. That, more than anything, made me feel like should stick with this blogging thing,
From there I suppose I came up with a pretty steady mix of personal thoughts on the blogosphere that were curt and accessible (if somewhat pointless) with much larger pieces that I am very proud of. Some were in the forms of reviews such as this gigantic review of two issues of Plastic Man (the two best issues to be far). Some were industry comment pieces like this essay on Marvel and DC writing off us younger folks who are not well versed in superhero continuity. It was surprising, in a good way, to see that essay got a lot of compliments and linkage. There were even a few e-mails I got from those who are working closely with those companies that were very cool. I appreciate all of those who invoked that essay and its sentiments in some way.
Besides the Comic-Con series the other series of essays I night be known for was the Talkin’ Chaykin essays, each one evaluating a different Howard Chaykin comic (again, you can work backwards from the last one). As you can see I’m a huge fan of Chaykin’s stuff and I’m glad to see that I gave him some notoriety on the blogosphere (not that someone of that talent needs someone like me) as well as drumming up discussion of his past work. I’m thinking of doing another series for the second year of this blog, based around a creator’s work. Looking at my bookshelf the only artist whose oeuvre I have amassed like Chaykin’s is Dan Clowes’ so maybe I can do “Considering Clowes” or some such thing.
Then there’s my other filtration with reporting-by-way-of-blogging, the two part report of Grant Morrison’s appearance at Meltdown Comics. There’s no shortage of blog posts about Morrison’s work but I like to think I offered something different in those two than what most blogs have. Since I’m moving to a metropolitan environment in August, San Francisco, that has some pretty interesting comics stuff happen from time to time we can expect to see more of that type of thing.
This blog has also helped me as a writer by scoring me work as a critic and journalist for other places. I have a lot of gratitude for The Comics Journal editors Dirk Deppey and Mike Dean for letting me to contribute to the finest magazine comics will ever see. I also thank Alan David Doane from letting me contribute to The New Comic Book Galaxy along with some of the best writers the internet comic punditry world has. When I see the authors of the articles mine stand beside I have to say I feel like I’m putting someone on. I suppose it’s just another motive for me to work on the craft of being a critic and a journalist. That’s something I don’t think should ever be abandoned.
Probably what most of you who have read this far are thinking of me
As I look towards the future I must say that I’m not that optimistic about myself and my standing in the blogosphere. That Matt Fraction quote does haunt me a bit. “Do I only have one good year in me?” is a worry I’ve been worrying about. Right now I’m going through what will be one of the biggest changes in my life so this blog hasn’t always been top (or middle) priority but when I move to Sucka Free City and start life as an university English major I think my life will calm back down long enough for me to amp up the quality of this blog. Hopefully. I don’t think I’ve ever been one of the better bloggers out there, just one of the people you probably check out because there’s nothing else to read and my link might be near the top the Comic Weblog Updates page. I suppose that’s all I deserve though, there’s nothing too dynamic here on Brill Building. There’s that and the feeling I get where I might give up reading comics in anything but a casual way. I might find myself reading about five graphic novels a year for fun and have that be all the comics I splurge on. Money’s tight and I’m getting older, going to the comic shop every Wednesday is just not the priority it once was.
Don’t worry; even if things change I’ll always be updating this crazy thing. It might be a comics/movies blog or comics/life-of-a-student blog or something totally different but Brill Building will always be around and it will always be this address. I hope you’ll continue reading but I’ll understand if you don’t.
Of course, it all worth it to read a total stranger doubt that I’m telling the truth about how I old I am on the Barbelith boards. That fucking cracked me up for days.
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